Treaty of Heard Island
| location_signed = Queen Elizabeth Harbour, Heard Island, Southern Indian Ocean Islands | date_sealed = | date_effective = 1 April, 2016 | condition_effective = by France, Australia and the Southern Indian Ocean Islands | date_expiration = | date_expiry = | mediators = | negotiators = | original_signatories = | signatories = Southern Indian Ocean Islands | parties = | ratifiers = | depositor = Government of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands | depositories = | citations = | language = | languages = French, English | wikisource = | wikisource1 = | footnotes = }}The Treaty of Heard Island is a treaty between the Southern Indian Ocean Islands, and regarding the latter two's claims on the continent of Antarctica. It saw France and Australia relinquish their claims before the territories were officially annexed by the Southern Indian Ocean Islands, where they became a Federal Generality Territory, the only one of its kind in the country. Aims of the treaty The main aim of the treaty was for the signatories to relinquish their territorial claims on Antarctica for them to be annexed by the Republic of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands. Territorial changes The treaty saw the following territorial changes come into effect: * , belonging to the French Republic, was annexed by the Republic of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands following the relinquishment of the claim by France; *the , belonging to the Commonwealth by Australia, was annexed by the Republic of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands following the relinquishment of the claim by Australia; * , currently unclaimed by any government, was annexed by the Republic of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands. After the treaty came into effect, the Republic of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands annexed a region of Antarctica located between 44°38′E and 158°W, with a total area of approximately 7,938,500 km². This put the total government area of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands to 55,128,530 km², including water. When only land area is accounted for, the total area became approximately 7,946,831 km², which makes it the sixth largest country in the world in land area, and constitutes a 953% area increase for the Southern Indian Ocean Islands. Status of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands' Antarctica The regions of Antarctica that were annexed by the Southern Indian Ocean Islands have no permanent population and are therefore not eligible to become a province within the republic. Therefore, the region became a Federal Generality Territory known as the FGR Antarctica. Administration of FGR Antarctica is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Islands's newly formed Department of Antarctica. Amongst the responsibilities of the department are the safe-keeping of the Antarctic territory's flora and fauna, enabling and promoting scientific research in the region, making sure that the region is not used for any military purposes, and to avert whaling ships from hunting in the region. The head of the department is known as the Administrator of Antarctica. Future signatories Following the announcement of the signing of the treaty, other nations with Antarctic claims have expressed interest in relinquishing their claims. and both expressed interest in joining the treaty on 22 March, 2016. This would mean that the and would be added to the Southern Indian Ocean Islands' Antarctic territory. Norway's relinquishment of the claim would possibly come together with the incorporation of Bouvet Island into the Republic. However, until further notice Norway maintains its claim on . On 23 March, 2016, the expressed interest in negations with the Southern Indian Ocean Islands regarding its Antarctic claim. Though the Southern Indian Ocean Islands returned the expression of interest, it also noted that it would only annex areas of Antarctica that are entirely unclaimed, thus meaning that large part of the UK claim would not be annexed into the Antarctic territory due to its overlapping with the Argentinian and Chilean Antarctic claims. Compatibility with the Antarctic Treaty